Watching the death of Yugoslav makes it seem pretty clearly that Milosevic's fomenting of Serbian nationalism in Kosovo in order to increase his own authority was the spark that lit off the Yugoslav Wars.
What events prior to that and behind that allowed that spark to so quickly explode into ethnic warfare in a seemingly peaceful nation?
How did Josip Broz Tito manage to contain what turned out to be such a volatile population?
Hi you asked for book recommendations, and I didn't see any posted so I thought I would offer some help.
I recommend Chris Hedges' "War is a Force that Gives Us meaning"
Hedges was a journalist in the Balkans during the war. He gives his first hand account of things he saw. It's been a few years since I read it but if I recall he does include several quotes from different sides of the conflict.
The war in question is not the main focus of the book but he does spend time going back to it. The book is not the historical analysis you are probably looking for. But it does give you a prime recollection of an outsider who witnessed the war.
It is a short book and it can give a quick overview of the thoughts/causes of the conflict. You can check his bibliography for books with more in depth analysis of the conflict. Hope this helps a little.